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Democrats: Party Of Post-Birth Abortion

Only a single House Democrat voted to protect the lives of babies born alive after failed abortion
Screen Shot 2023-01-12 at 5.23.33 PM

That's Melissa Ohden, and here's a link to the video from which that screenshot was taken. More on her below.

What happens if an abortion goes wrong, and the baby (or if you prefer, "fetus") that was intended to be aborted is accidentally born alive. That is, the tiny human being exists independently of its mother's body. Common sense, and basic human decency, indicates that doctors should try to care for the child, which is now a legal person by any reasonable definition.

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Unless you're a House Democrat (with the honorable exception of Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas). If the mother wanted that baby dead, then not even partial birth abortion is enough. Post-birth abortion is what's called for. You know, actual murder. News today:

The House also passed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act in a 220-210 vote, which is aimed at compelling doctors to provide care to infants who survive an attempted abortion, a situation that is rare. Some experts say there were already protections for infants included in a 2002 law and even before that established infants have the rights of a full person. The legislation adds new penalties, including fines or imprisonment of up to five years for health-care providers who do not comply

I can imagine that some House Democrats might have thought this bill was nothing but GOP showboating, given that it can be argued that babies accidentally born alive in an abortion procedure have the rights of a person. But why not vote for this legislation if it's something you already agree with? Even if, for the sake of argument, it's superfluous, so what?

But it's not superfluous. As Russell Moore wrote in National Review three years ago, when similar legislation was before the Senate:

Sadly, federal law currently lacks sufficient legal protections for children who survive abortions.

Survivors like Melissa Ohden in Kansas City, Mo., know how critical these medical provisions are. At Meslissa’s seventh month of gestation, her mother elected to have an abortion. Miraculously, Melissa survived. She was delivered alive, set aside, and ignored, to be discarded.

But this was not the end of her story. Melissa is with us today because a few nurses did just what we all would hope — they saw a vulnerable life and intervened to save her.

In 2017, after Melissa wrote about her experience in a book, she heard from a woman who told her she’d been following her pro-life and adoption advocacy for years. “I wondered if you were the baby I remembered from St. Luke’s hospital,” she said. “After reading your book, I know it’s you.” The day of Melissa’s birth, the woman was working in the neonatal intensive-care unit. “I’ll never forget it,” she recounted years later. “This tall blonde nurse had you in her arms and came through the door shouting ‘That darn doctor messed up! She just kept gasping for breath. She just kept gasping so I couldn’t just leave her there to die.’”

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that, from 2003 to 2014, at least 143 babies died after surviving abortions. In 2017 alone, at least 25 babies across five states were born alive after attempted abortion. The CDC numbers are likely an underestimate because, in the absence of the Born Alive Act, reporting is voluntary.

Beyond the numbers, consider the testimony of those who’ve witnessed failed abortions. Jill Stanek, a registered nurse who now works with the pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony List, testified Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee about her experience in the labor-and-delivery department at Christ Hospital in Illinois. In her testimony, she recounted how, to her utter and complete shock, she discovered that babies who survived abortions were left to die inside a hospital utility closet. In an obvious conscience-soothing act, the hospital eventually created a “comfort room” where these children were taken to die, causing Stanek to ask herself, “How far will doctors go to comfort themselves by letting abortion survivors die?”

While it’s true that infanticide is illegal in the United States, this does not save infants who find their way into the world after surviving an abortion. Rather, these children are doubly vulnerable, because federal law protects abortion from the standards of medical care applicable to any other procedure, in order to avoid placing an “undue burden” on those who seek the so-called right.

Megan Basham is right:

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Fran Macadam
Fran Macadam
Shipping all
schedule 1 year ago
Fran Macadam
Fran Macadam
Shipping all those arms to Ukraine so they can die to the last Ukrainian shows how shallow the value for human life is amongst us.
schedule 1 year ago
    Siluan
    Siluan
    Your complete and utter contempt for the lives of the estimated 250,000 Ukrainian civilians already slaughtered by Russian aggression, as well as the suffering and loss of millions of others forced to flee is utterly breathtaking. Do you ever even post about anything besides how you want more Ukrainians dead or enslaved? Clearly your moral compass lost it's needle long ago.
    schedule 1 year ago
      Fran Macadam
      Fran Macadam
      Obviously you only read propaganda. Thousands of eastern Ukrainians were killed by the western coup government, after an initial 50 were burned to death inside the union building. Everything was peaceful before the violent coup. The Minsk agreement signed by all was supposed to restore peace, but now all western parties to it say it was a deception and there was no intention to stop the killing after 2014. You can hurl insults all you want but the facts don't change no matter propaganda to the contrary. You might also want to consider that being pro life is wholistic. Supplying weapons to kill as many that you don't like is morally no different to intentionally killing babies that you don't care about either.
      schedule 1 year ago
        Fran Macadam
        Fran Macadam
        In terms of abandoning morality, I note that even a fig leaf of Just War Theory to justify war is no longer even mentioned. Obviously in the past when it was invoked, the reality is that its criteria were not satisfied. Now it is not even pretended to consider it at all. There's the real immorality. And if you look up Just War, you will see why, because it cannot be met either in just waging or objective. All part of how even a vestige of Christian influence is disappearing.
        schedule 1 year ago
          Siluan
          Siluan
          Not even a fig leaf?!?! Are you dilutional? Russia invaded a country that had not attacked it. Russia has systematically targeted civilians with mass artillery and rocket fire. Russia has also employed high-precision guided missiles in attacking civilian targets. Russia has murdered as many as 250,000 Ukrainian civilians. There is very solid evidence Russia has forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to what are essentially prison camps in Siberia. There is solid evidence Russia has systematically kidnapped tens of thousands of Ukrainian children and sent that to "adoptive" families in Siberia. There are tens of thousands of credible allegations of rapes by Russian soldiers. You really The fact that refuse to even acknowledge any of these facts shows that is you who in fact lacks said fig leaf.

          And Just War theory has nothing to do with it. Self-defense is one of the most basic rights of humanity. Are you really going to go so far as to claim that people don't have the right to prevent themselves being killed?
          schedule 1 year ago
        Siluan
        Siluan
        No, you're the one reading the propaganda. You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. The Donbas conflict was entirely created from the start by the Kremlin. The leaders of the so-call DPR/LPR are known high-ranking FSB (KGB) operatives and were supplied and wholely supported by Russia. Before the conflict, polls showed that better than 80% of Donbas residents wanted to remain part of Ukraine. The violence was all started by Russia.

        You might also want to consider that being pro-life is wholistic. There is iron-clad proof that Russia has systematically committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine. They have arrested, tortured and murdered Ukrainian civilians in nearly every city or town liberated so far. Your complete disregard of this fact again just shows that you have no functional moral compass.
        schedule 1 year ago
          Fran Macadam
          Fran Macadam
          Plenty of assertions in search of facts. I would think you might just be ignorant of realities, but the tenor of your language makes me think it's more than that.
          schedule 1 year ago
          Siluan
          Siluan
          Prove me wrong.
          schedule 1 year ago
          Fran Macadam
          Fran Macadam
          Evidence please.
          schedule 1 year ago